EPICENTER Moscow main event: group stage set to begin

EPICENTER Moscow main event has arrived. Team Secret, Team Liquid, OG, Evil Geniuses, Virtus.Pro, and Alliance – and the two qualified teams of compLexity Gaming and Newbee will compete for a total prize-pool of $500,000 at Crocus City Hall in Moscow between May 10-15th. The first matches kick off at 09:00 CEST with OG vs Alliance and EG vs Virtus.Pro.

Groups after wildcard teams joined the gang! We will resume our broadcast at 9-00CET#epicgg #dota2 #CISmajor #RuHub pic.twitter.com/1wn7q5L96H

— EPICENTER: Moscow (@epicentergg) May 9, 2016

EPICENTER Moscow main event is now upon us. The stage has been set and the final two teams from the Wild Card matches yesterday decided. Newbee extended their winning streak to an astounding 25 wins, breaking the record set by Na’Vi three years ago. compLexity continued to prove that North America Dota is fierce.

The eight teams will begin the battle for their share of the $500,000 prize pool and the championship title with a two day group stage. The first matches begin at 09:00 CEST between OG vs Alliance and Evil Geniuses vs Virtus.Pro. No teams will be eliminated in the next two days.

EPICENTER Moscow main event

EPICENTER Moscow main event teams

• Team Secret
• Alliance
• Team Liquid
• OG
• Evil Geniuses
• Virtus.Pro
• Newbee by WildCard phase
• compLexity by WildCard phase

EPICENTER Moscow main event schedule

May, 10th Group Stage EPICENTER Moscow main event

• 09:00 CEST – OG vs Alliance/EG vs Virtus.Pro
• 13:00 CEST – Liquid vs Wild Card runner-up/Team Secret vs Wild Card winner
• 17:00 CEST – Upper Bracket final Group A
• 22:00 CEST – Upper Bracket final Group B

May, 11th Group Stage EPICENTER Moscow main event

• 09:00 CEST Group A Lower Bracket match
• 13:00 CEST Group B Lower Bracket match
• 17:00 CEST Group A Lower Bracket final
• 21:00 CEST Group B Lower Bracket final

May, 12th Playoffs EPICENTER Moscow main event

• 14:00 CEST Upper Bracket match
• 18:00 CEST Upper Bracket match

May, 13th Playoffs EPICENTER Moscow main event

• 10:00 CEST Lower Bracket match
• 14:00 CEST Lower Bracket match
• 18:00 CEST Lower Bracket match

May, 14th Playoffs EPICENTER Moscow main event

• 10:00 CEST Lower Bracket match
• 14:00 CEST Lower Bracket match
• 18:00 CEST Upper Bracket final

May, 15th Playoffs EPICENTER Moscow main event

• 10:00 CEST Lower Bracket final
• 14:00 CEST Grand Final

EPICENTER Moscow main event format

May 10th-11th – Group Stage

• Eight teams will compete – six invited teams and two coming from the offline qualifiers.
• Top two teams from each group will advance into the Upper Brackets of the main event.
• Bottom two teams from each group will start the main event in the Lower Brackets.
• The group stages will be closed to the public and, just like the offline qualifier, they will be held at a prestigious hotel in Moscow.

May 12th-15th – Main Event

• All series will be best-of-three.
• The Grand Finals will be best-of-five, with not Upper Bracket advantage.
• The main event will take place at the Crocus City Hall, in Moscow. Tickets will go on sale in early April.

EPICENTER Moscow prize pool distribution

• 1st place – $250,000
• 2nd place – $100,000
• 3rd place – $60,000
• 4th place – $30,000
• 5th-6th place – $20,000
• 7th-8th place -$10,000

EPICENTER Moscow main event team profiles

News of Team Secret’s Manila Major and TI6 roster had once again shaken the Dota 2 scene. Omar “w33” Aliwi and Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen were replaced by Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, both from Evil Geniuses, with only four days left before the rosters became locked for more than five months. In addition, Secret welcomed Theeban “1437” Siva to the team as coach.

The new roster has yet to prove itself, after failing to advance in the ESL One Manila playoffs, on April 23rd, in their seasonal debut.

When Team Liquid seized second place at the Shanghai Major after taking down Alliance, MVP.Phoenix and Evil Geniuses, they also captured the favor and seal of approval from tournament organizers and fans around the world. Since the Shanghai Major, they were directly invited to participate in ESL One Manila, ESL One Frankfurt and assumed the place of EHOME when the Chinese team’s invite to EPICENTER Moscow was revoked due to roster changes.

On April 24th, Team Liquid went undefeated into the ESL One Manila Grand Finals, but ended up dropping three games, along with the championship title, to Wings Gaming.

After the unanticipated departure of both Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora to Team Secret towards the last days of the team registration period, the future of Evil Geniuses seemed uncertain. Evil Geniuses have officially welcomed back both Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling and Sam “BuLba” Sosale to the organization, on March 26th. Aui had previously been a member when the team seized the Aegis of Champions, while BuLba – who played for the organization during The International 2 – coached the TI5 winning squad to success.

The new roster debuted at the WePlay LAN where they took a commendable third place after starting the playoffs in the lower brackets following a shaky start in the group phase.

The independent European team defied the odds when they rose through the lower brackets, bested The International 5 champions, Evil Geniuses, and upset favorites Team Secret to rocket to the top and claim the championship title and the staggering 1.1 million dollars prize at the first Dota Major, in Frankfurt.

They then proved to the world that their dramatic victory at the Major was not just a fluke of luck. Once again, OG proved their merit when they obliterated Team Empire, 3:0, in the DreamLeague Season 4 grand finals, clinching their second consecutive LAN in a matter of a week.

OG slid into the 5th-8th place at the DotaPit Season 4 LAN. They were the second team eliminated as the rising SEA team MVP.Phoenix overwhelmed them, 2:1. Stepping back up, they secured the fourth place position at StarLadder iLeague Dota Invitational after being bested by Na’Vi, 2:1, in the lower brackets.

In December 2015, the Swedish squad welcomed former teammate and longtime friend, Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist. Barely two weeks later, the Swedish sweethearts nailed down their first championship title in one year and a half, at WCA 2015.

Less than a month later, they continued to sizzle, burning down the North American TI5 champions, EG, to take their second consecutive premier LAN championship title at the StarLadder iLeague StarSeries. Their games featured perfect execution and optimal team coordination, expected of a team that was once considered a western juggernaut.

Alliance slipped a few notches, taking 7th-8th place at the Shanghai Major, where they were eliminated in a major upset by compLexity Gaming, 2:1. They then took the 5-6th place position in Starladder iLeague Dota Invitational when they were bested by OG, 2:1.

Coming into the new season Virtus.Pro made drastic changes to their lineup at the end of March, as they announced the addition of both Alexander ”NoFear” Churochkin and Maxim “yoky” Kim to the roster, replacing Alexander “DkPhobos” Kucheria, and Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk. At the same time, the team announced that Airat “Silent” Gaziev had been moved to the substitute role and is currently inactive due to health issues. Their fifth and final position was then filled by Ilya “ALOHADANCE” Korobkin, most recently departed from Team Empire.

The team’s new roster debut took place only days later at the StarLadder i-League Invitational where they took 5-6th place.

Virtus.Pro roster:

Sergey “God” Bragin
Maxim “yoky” Kim
Artem “fng” Barshak
Alexander “NoFear” Churochkin
Airat “Silent” Gaziev (substitute)

For the Spring season Meng “Xiao2lei” Lei and Zhang “le” Xuanhao moved to Newbee.Young, and Damien “kphoenii” Chok and Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi joined the team. Kaka had last played for EHOME and kphoenii is an Australian player who played for MVP.Phoenix and EHOME.King.

Newbee put an end to EHOME’s last hopes to participate in EPICENTER Moscow. The TI4 Championship team convincingly wiped out EHOME 3:0 in the EPICENTER Moscow Chinese qualifiers to secure a spot in the closed qualifiers. The Chinese stars had first swept through CDEC 2:0 then bested ViCi Gaming Reborn then LGD Gaming 2:1 before advancing to the Grand Finals.

Their incredible performance in the qualifiers was displayed most recently when they went through the entire Manila Major Chinese Qualifiers with an astounding 12:0 record, having not surrendered a single loss.

Newbee roster:

Chen “Hao” Zhihao
Zhang Mu Pan
Damien “kphoenii” Chok
Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi
Wong “ChuaN” Hock Chuan

compLexity Gaming underwent roster changes in November 2015, as they welcomed Swedish brothers Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin and Linus “Limmp” Blomdin for the new season, reviving most of the HoN StayGreen roster from 2013-2014. Simon “Handsken” Haag also joined the mix. Since then they have had powerful and compelling victories and performances.

The North American/European mix overpowered Shazam 3:2 in the Americas Qualifiers for EPICENTER Moscow. compLexity wiped out EnemyGG and Shazam in their journey to the Grand Finals. With a default win coming in the upper bracket finals by Team Archon, which had disbanded, compLexity faced Shazam once again in the Grand Finals.

compLexity Gaming roster:

Kyle “swindlemelonzz” Freedman
Zakari “Zfreek” Freedman
Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin
Linus “Limmp” Blomdin
Simon “Handsken” Haag

Featured image courtesy of RuHub instagram